Currently, internal combustion engines require moving elements for functioning, which synchronize the fuel admission and gas exhaust systems through piston movement. Currently, these systems have been perfected with the incorporation of elements to optimize fuel use and motor control, but they still use a large number of moving pieces, which indeed require a considerable use of energy. An engine type presenting a solution to this problem is the Wankel internal combustion engine, which has not been used due to the durability difficulties presented.
For instance, patent GB1109374 discloses a Wankel internal combustion engine with a rotating piston that comprises a housing having an inner peripheral surface and a three-sided rotating piston that sequentially shifts between three variable-volume working chambers, which define the admission, compression, expansion and exhaust phases; wherein said engine also includes a groove-shaped transference passage that controls the transference through a slide. Some moment before the end of the expansion phase of the first chamber, some of the hot combustion gases pass to the second chamber to start the compression phase, thereby increasing the compression rate beyond that determined by the engine dimensions. The transferred hot gases complement the compression heat to allow the ignition and combustion of the fuel injected through a nozzle when operating under a diesel cycle. The amount of feedback gas per groove cross-section depends on the engine rate. Hence, the higher the rate, the lower the time the groove is open and therefore the lower the amount of gas in the feedback. To counteract this in order to keep substantially constant the amount of feedback gas independently of the engine rate, the slide is controlled by a rate regulator in such a way as to decrease the feedback gas amount at low rates and increase it at high rates. If the engine operates in an Otto spark-ignition cycle, the slide can be fully moved to the inner part or a filling member can be inserted in the groove.
The Wankel engine as described in patent GB1109374 has important advantages with respect to the Otto engine, such as, for instance, the use of fewer moving pieces, which generates a higher reliability. Furthermore, this engine has a higher running smoothness since the delivery of potency is carried out in a more progressive way. Finally, this type of engine has a lower weight due to the lower number of pieces that compose the engine in comparison with piston engines.
However, as previously mentioned, a Wankel engine, such as the engine of patent GB1109374, has durability and other disadvantages and therefore this type of engine has not been used extensively in the industry. Some of these disadvantages are:
Emissions: this engine has high emission levels due to the geometry of its combustion chambers, which makes it difficult to comply with contaminant emission regulations.
Consumption: the thermodynamic efficiency is reduced by the elongated shape of the combustion chambers and the low compression ratio.
Difficult hermeticity: It is very difficult to isolate each of the three sections of the rotating cylinder, which have to be mutually hermetic for a good operation. Besides, it is necessary to change the hermeticity system approximately every 6 years due to excess wear.
In this way, although the existing solutions in the state of the art try to improve said engines by making them more efficient and economic, there is currently no solution able to counteract substantially the aforementioned problems with respect to both engines. With the aim of solving the previously exposed disadvantages, this invention presents an internal combustion engine that uses the Wankel engine operation principles using combustion chambers similar to those of the Otto or Diesel engines. This engine is able to improve aspects of the Otto and the Diesel engines with respect to the number of moving pieces, running smoothness and weight, by using the Wankel engine operation principle. Likewise, the engine of the present invention is able to improve the contaminant gas emission level, decrease the consumption and overcome the hermeticity problems associated with the Wankel engine, by using the combustion chambers of an Otto or Diesel engine.
The internal combustion motor of the present invention does not require a crankshaft, valves, camshaft, cams, belts, valve springs, synchronization and distribution systems and the like. Furthermore, the present engine performs a four-stroke Otto or Diesel cycle in a single rotation of its potency axle, which allows for the use of a single spark plug or injector, depending on the type of fuel for which the system is designed.
Therefore, an internal combustion engine is provided that uses only one rotation of its potency axle to generate the four strokes of an Otto or Diesel cycle through four lineal displacements of a piston, which can operate with all types of fuel and can be used in all classes of vehicles, machines, and mobile or stationary equipment, complementing the benefits of a Wankel engine with the durability of an Otto or Diesel engine.
The engine of the present invention is formed basically by a rotor in which the amount of cylinders required according to the design is equidistantly and radially located. The rotor comprises a drive shaft supported on two rotary supporting means located at the center of two ends of a housing.
The piston sets radially shift from the center to the periphery of the rotor due to the combustion of the fuel. Each piston set comprises a piston head located in a rotor cylinder and in the external surface of said piston head a supporting bar protrudes, said supporting bar comprising at its outer end a displacement shaft perpendicularly joined to said supporting bar. This displacement shaft has two displacement means, e.g. bearings, one in each end, which are in contact with guides located at each side of the engine housing. In this way, the guides are designed to generate an angle with respect to the piston displacement direction, which causes the rotor to rotate when the piston shifts outwards.
Furthermore, the housing connects each cylinder in the right moment to an admission way and subsequently to one or more exhaust ways through slots or channels concentrically molded thereon.